07 Moonlit
Washington, the indie Twilight-famed state, seemed to be ninety percent forest. Even miles away, two years later, Avery managed to find herself in the same woodsy abode. It seemed now more like a certified fact that dark, endless woods would always draw creatures more than human.
In Washington, Avery Dunning was a little more easy, a little less hard than the girl she was today. Even though she had her mother's journal, the stories of werewolves and vampires and witches seemed to be just make believe. What fifteen-year-old, not drinking the fictional gothic Kool-Aid, believed that their lives were unmistakably and intricately woven into those fairytales.
She'd gone to her first party in the back-neck woods, just a bunch of solo red cups around the bonfire, skinny dipping in the nearby lake and kids blaring the best songs you could move to.
She was one of those, skipping off to the woods to make out with a hot jock.
Avery was a little drunk, and buzzing. And things got more heated and she needed it to stop. The sweet, drunkard kisses made her dizzy and her bare skin felt warm to touch. Too warm. Before she could get another breath in, the pressure became too much.
His kisses were suffocating, his hands rougher than she thought. Alarms bells started ringing.
So she struggled. She said no, stop. She found a surge of strength to push him off her. He would look at her with wild, disbelieving eyes. And she remembered feeling flushed, feeling heat curl up under her skin. But the wild, dizzying feelings was not her trigger.
It was his. The argument played out. Avery felt herself get really angry, and he got angry. It got physical, but Avery managed to keep pushing him off. Things got so out of control fast; one minute he was flinging leaves in her face, the next he was crouched over in rage, a horror show of transformation and the new creature, snarling and snapping, launched itself at her.
Its claws sunk, tore her skin and ripped its way down her leg. Those teeth gnashed at her, eyes mad and rolling.
"I hate the woods," Avery remarked, shaking away the memory of the shifter. After that night, she took to studying her mother's journal like it was the gospel.
And with all she knew, and all the dangers, here she was again, walking in the middle of the night through the dark forest.
"Too much horror movies?" Sawyer mused, turning to watch her through the corner of his eyes.
She gave a wry smile. "Too much horror in this reality."
Together they walked, Avery unable to see anything in front of her. They had left the dirt road ten minutes ago, hiking up to where Reece had texted her to meet up. "Can I use my phone's flashlight?" she asked, tripping over something dark.
Sawyer's hand shot out, grabbing her by the waist. "Easy," he murmured. "Probably not. There's a reason Reece wants all this cloak and dagger."
They continued to walk, Avery feeling a cold slink in and fresh dirt stain the bottom of her jeans. The trek was even harder with only one arm to swing around; she had tripped and bumped her way so often she had to keep clutching onto Sawyer's jacket.
"We're here," he said. He pulled aside a heavy brush and helped her clamber over some rocks.
They came out near a small glade, tucked between a rocky cliffy and the steep, wild forest. Avery could see properly in the small clearing, the waning moon bathing them in its light; the grass seemed silver, the rocks nearly glowing, the sounds of water falling cooling the night. She walked along the stretch of flat land, finding the rockface curve inward to a small pool where the water fell from the sky.
"This was Reece's and my hideout when we were kids," said Sawyer. He looked around the place with a small wonder in his eyes. "You used to feel like you owned the world when you came here. No adults. No rules. No limits."
Avery smiled. It was that kind of faith she needed right now. She settled down on the grass and crossed her legs, trying to imagine having a place like this. "You two are brothers?" she asked, because no one had ever mentioned that before.
Sawyer nodded. "Well, half brothers."
Avery didn't even think about how that could complicate things in the wolf community. The bastard and the heir? She'd seen that tv show.
"Here, you should hold onto this." He handed her something. Avery frowned slightly at the ring in her hand. It was the one she'd managed to pull of Michael. Sunlight killed vampires. But some managed to get a witch to enchant these dark blue stones to be worn as jewelry, unable to die from the burn.
She undid her necklace and slipped the ring onto the string, before tying it up again.
"Thanks for the assist before, by the way. Or was that just luck?" she asked.
A smug expression found its way onto his face. "Vampires? Not my first rodeo." He kinda rolled his eyes, his chest straightening out at his little victory. Then he frowned and looked behind them. Seconds later, Avery heard it too.
She stood up just as the brush moved aside and three figures sprang unto the flat land.
"You guys come out alright?" Sawyer asked.
Reece gave his brother a glare, looking as worn down as he did earlier. "Dad's not happy."
Sawyer gave an unkind snort. "No surprise."
Avery looked to the other two, in better shape than she'd last seen them. She grumbled at Laurel, the girl didn't have a scratch on her and yet Avery was near crippled. Adam seemed alright too, but unusually quiet. Both tried not to look at Avery too hard.
"Avery," Reece started, and then stopped. He looked between her and her arm, the frown only deepening. He shook his head, running his hand through his hair and nearly tugged it out. He instead turned to look at his brother for guidance.
"Vampires. They're real."
Adam made a strangled sound behind Reece. "And wicked fast. I could barely see them. They were like... man, like evil Superman's."
Both girls rolled their eyes.
"And dad knew," Reece continued. "Not about the attack, obviously. But I went there trying to tell him that there are these things out there and he didn't blink an eye. He's supposed to be the protector, train me to take his place, but to not tell me just how dangerous the world is..."
Feeling sorry for Reece's crumbling faith, Avery couldn't help herself. "It's hard too see the world when you're sitting in one corner of it your whole lives. That's just the way it is with you shifters."
His eyes blazed, holding her fast. Reece quickly stride towards her. "They were looking for you. Why?" he demanded.
Avery blanched. "I can't tell you that."
"Dammit Avery, my friend died today because you're a trouble magnet. My dad didn't believe me when I told him you weren't a threat, he wants your head."
"That would be a very dumb thing to do," she seethed. After all, the vampires needed her alive.
"That's why we're here in the middle of the fucking night, trying not to point fingers."
"You're the only one pointing fingers here, Reece."
"Whoa guys, cool it." Sawyer quickly rushed between the two, placing a hand on his brother's chest. "Reece, take it easy with her."
Avery couldn't see Reece beyond Sawyer's tall frame but she could tell he was rolling his eyes.
"They called you something," Adam interjected, taking his place next to Reece. "Lupus Cepheus? What does that mean?"
The back of her neck prickled with those two words. Heat rushed her face as she remembered the vampire running his hand along her neck, no doubt having found her birthmark. Even Sawyer gave her a strange glance at those words.
"I know that," said Laurel. "It's Latin for—"
"Wolf King," Sawyer finished.
Avery frowned. Sure, it wasn't hard to believe some took Latin in high school, but he managed to say it heavy and laced, with a thousand other meanings.
"How do you know that?"
"Wolf King? What does that mean?"
Sawyer didn't take his eyes off Avery, taking her in and really seeing what laid beneath. And she saw starting to make sense of him; of the palpable danger and unexplained familiarity that she felt with him near.
He turned to face her, and slowly raised his hand. Avery watched as he tugged his collar down, showing the skin along his collarbone, and the triangular birthmark that decorated his skin like a constellation in the sky.
Avery reeled, taking a step back. "Canes Venatici," she gasped. She knew every pattern that was out there in the world but never imagined finding another. After all, she was the last one from her own bloodline.
"Hunting dog," he whispered. I'm like you, he seemed to say.
Avery looked between Sawyer and Reece, and nearly laughed. That family dynamic was a whole lot more complicated than second marriages and affairs.
"Avery?" Reece pressed, still waiting for an answer.
She looked to Sawyer again, and he nodded. She could speak. "Look," she started, talking to Reece alone. "I am so sorry about your friend, Kayden, and that you got yourself pulled into this mess. I never wanted that. I never wanted trouble. It's my mess, and I'll deal with it alone. So please don't get involved with what I'm about to tell you."
Reece's eyes narrowed into slits. "I can't make any promises," he said, and his eyes furtively darted to his brother.
"I wasn't lying when I said I was human. I am. Born, and might die that way. And you know I'm a foster kid. The reason, well, I don't come from a human bloodline."
"You're not fully human?" Reece frowned, again looking to his brother and this time she knew why.
"It's not like that. I carry a gene, it could make me possibly as powerful as... As you. As a vampire. But it's dormant and can stay that way until the day I die."
"It's a wolf gene, right?" Adam asked. "Wolf King must mean that?"
Avery ran her hand over her face. She couldn't tell them the specifics. It would shatter their entire world, more than she already had.
"Look," Sawyer quickly interjected. "I know what's she's talking about, and to protect the pack it's best you don't ask any questions right now."
Reece stared hard at his brother. "You know?"
"Yes. I'll tell you someday. Or maybe you should get your father to tell you."
Avery waved her hands, trying to get her explanation finished. "Whatever. It's a Lycan curse. I'm the last of my family's bloodline, and it goes way, way, back. There are others with the same type of gene, but most of us are extinct or weak. That's why my parent's put me in foster care. To make me and the bloodline disappear and hope the vampires never find me."
"But they have found you now. On our territory."
"Do they want to kill you?" Laurel asked, sounding slightly concerned.
"No. Where it can make me strong and a threat to them, they can also harvest it from me. Take my blood, my bone marrow, brain tissue. Pull me apart and try to find out exactly what it is that lives inside of me. It would make them practically unstoppable, and all they need is me.
"But the gene has to be active. That's what they were trying to do today." Avery paused, unable to look them in their eyes any longer.
The next moments were filled only with the rushing water, the trees swaying and creaking in the wind, the soft snuffling of a nearby animal. Almost as it the whole world was at peace and people like them, like her, didn't exist.
"If I kill someone, take a life, I become the monster they need."
There it was, the ugly truth. It hung in the air, a mutated and evil cold silencing the shifters. Avery stared down at the grass, unable to bear whatever was now in their eyes. Words couldn't ever make this right. Where her life started, and always following like a ghost, murder walked in her wake.
"You have to kill someone?" Reece whispered, shocked.
Avery shook her head, biting down on her lip. "I won't. They can't make me."
"But Avery-"
Snap.
Everyone froze, turning wildly to stare at the edge of the glade. Avery took a few steps forward, hiding behind Sawyer's tall frame.
On the other edge of the rocks, the bushes let out a staggering shake. Crap. They all looked at each other, Reece's expression furious.
"It's my dad," he snarled. "He had us followed."
Avery gave a weak laugh. "Probably best this midnight club disband."
Everyone agreeing they couldn't risk getting caught, or most likely freaked out by her secret, the three disappear down the rocks to the right and Sawyer and Avery ventured back into the dark woods.
************
So... Has Avery's mystery been solved? Are you guys happy? Shocked? Or confused?
Lol, basically she carries in her blood some supernatural power linked to wolves. And to get that power, she has to take a life. Harsh, right? And that's why she's always holding back, trying to reel in the fury and excitement.
Take a guess at exactly what our girl is, because next chapter we'll take it further, diving into her family past and she starts trying to hunt her hunters.
Thank you so so so much people for all your comments, votes and feedback. The last few days our reads have skyrocketed and it means the world to me. I love and appreciate talking to you guys, so please keep coming at me.
Merlin says next update in 3 days yay!